The Players Book provides a basic setting overview and rules for character creation. Characters have a complex variety of Attributes, placed into Attribute Groups. Characters also have Skills that can be improved through play. The game suggests characters select a type (roughly like a class in concept) to help define which Skills should be selected together, but this is not enforced by the rules. Skills are placed into Skill Groups though these primarily are organizational and not restrictive. Characters may also have a variety of feats, talents, and flaws (Traits) - including some which confer magical abilities.

The remainder of the volume includes the game mechanics, which are based on percentile rolls. The game is quite detailed with numerous rules for various special circumstances. There is a heavy focus on combat and the clear intent is to involve the characters in frequent person-to-person combat, highly favored over other styles of combat available in science fiction settings. Equipment lists, for example, include things like daggers and bows.